OK Go: 180/365

OK Go

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Providing a tune for Morgan Spurlock’s POM Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold seems like a perfect bit of synergy for the viral load of Prince and power-pop known as OK Go. The Chicago band has always been commercial but cheeky, whip-smart but up for some dumb fun. After stretching its creative muscles on last year’s polarizing Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, OK Go brought Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann along for the live album victory lap 180/365, which assembles 15 tracks from 180 live performances. With 10 tracks from Sky, four from the sophomore effort Oh No, and just one lone representative from OK Go, 180/365 doesn’t really work as a best-of. Which is fine, but the live takes are also draggier than their studio counterparts, and even suffer from some troublesome clipping in the vocals. The knob-twiddling coda of “Needing/Getting” falls flat, the Pavement-esque outro on “Get Over It” is dozy, and even the requisite performance of “Here It Goes Again” feels strained. There are occasional surprises, like the Pixies imitation “Skyscrapers,” which is more sharply observed than its Blue counterpart and boasts a go-for-broke saxophone squall. Overall, though, while 180/365 might be a handy reminder that the YouTube heroes still exist, it doesn’t display enough energy or wit to do much more.